


The eye of the storm

by InexorablyUs



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, POV Jughead Jones, Post 1x13
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 22:35:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11723985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InexorablyUs/pseuds/InexorablyUs
Summary: Where Betty and Jughead try to talk things through, but it ends up as a fight.





	The eye of the storm

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, just keep in mind that english's not my first language, so feel free to correct me! Please forgive any mistakes, they are all mine

“Juggy?” he heard her call, and he looked at Betty, nestled at the other end of his dad’s couch. She had put her knees up to her chest, and she was looking right at him. “What’s going to happen now?” Her voice was as unsure as he felt.

He could feel the weight of the leather jacket on his back. This jacket, and especially the snake on its back, was a tangible sign that he and Betty were now on opposite sides of that stupid war, while their relationship was stuck right in the middle.

He decided to be honest, with her and himself. “I don’t know. But it definitely… complicates things.”

He saw in her clenched jaw and unshed tears that she was as scared as he was. She slowly nodded, and rested her chin on her knees.

“I really don’t want this to break us apart.”

When he heard her voice break slightly at the end, he automatically moved closer to her. Putting his finger under her chin, he forced to look at him. “Hey, listen. Me joining the Serpents… it is going to change things, alright. But it doesn’t have to change us. We don’t have to change,” he said, to convince her (and, if he was honest, himself too).

He saw a lone tear escaping her eye, and immediately wiped it away with his thumb, kissing her eyelid. But, before he could say anything further, she whispered, “How will it not change us if its changing you?”

Taken aback, he dropped his hand, frowning. “What do you mean?”

He saw her fighting back her tears, swallowing hard, searching for her words, and he knew what was coming wasn’t good.

“I… Juggie, the Serpents… You know what they do for a living. They sell drugs, they send threats, they destroy the drive-in, they’re involved in _murders_. And- and now that you’re a part of them, you’ll also have to do those things, and that is not the Jughead I know.”

“You know I won’t necessarily have to murder someone, right?” he tried to joke, which obviously didn’t work.

“But you might have to do other things!”

A few tears were running down her cheeks now, but Jughead didn’t brush them away this time. He wasn’t angry, he just felt… let down. Betty was the person who was supposed to always trust in him, no matter what, but… Here she was, doubting him.

“So am I a criminal now?”

He’d raise his voice unconsciously. Okay, maybe he was also a tiny bit angry.

 “No, no, Juggie.”

She tried to put her hands on his face, but he backed away. He saw the hurt on her face as she rested her hands at her sides again. It pained him to hurt her, but they needed to have this discussion.

“No, Jug,” she tried again, “I haven’t said that. But… What you’ll have to do to prove yourself to them, maybe that will make you one. And I don’t want you involved in that.”

“So what, Betty? Am I supposed to turn down the first people that actually want me? Am I supposed to go back to a place where people treat me like dirt, just to please you?”

He was standing at this point, looking down at Betty who was still sitting on the couch. She was staring at him cautiously.

“I haven’t said that. Please sit down so we can talk, Juggie.”

“We _are_ talking!” he snapped.

In the back of his mind, Jughead wondered why he got so stupidly furious over it. It wasn’t a big deal, Betty was just trying to protect him. But he had accumulated so much anger and resentment over the course of the last few days, burying it inside him, and it all just rushed back all at once. And he took it out on Betty.

 “Weren’t you the only who wrote this article about the Serpents not being bad? Was that a lie? To keep up with the perfect girl façade?”

“No! Of course not! Jug, why would you think-”

“You know what?” he cut her, his voice harsh and unforgiving, “I think this is great! Because now, you won’t have to pretend you care for the ‘bad boy’, and I don’t have to pretend to be nice. I’ve always been a Serpent’s son anyways. It’s a fantastic opportunity to end all these lies.”

With tears running down her face freely now, she got up and put both hands on his shoulders. “I’m not pretending, Juggie, I love you.”

Her voice was broken, and she looked vulnerable, and she started to sob, and it destroyed him to know it was because of him. And, as he was backing away from the best thing that ever happened to him again, his own vision clouded with tears. Tears of sadness or anger? He couldn’t tell. He felt both.

“No you don’t, Betty, admit it. I’ve always been your rebound after Archie rejected you. Your very own consolation prize.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, with aggressiveness.

Again, she tried to come closer to him, and he kept on moving back. They were in the kitchen now.

“Come on, Betty. I think it’s time for us to stop. We can pretend all we want, but this will never work.”

That finally stopped her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

He hated what he was saying, hated the pain he saw in her sad green eyes, hated himself. But he just kept going.

“We can’t work this out, Betty.”

“But you said…”

“I know what I said! But I also know that you can’t adapt to my world, and I can’t adapt to yours! I’ll always be a stranger in Northside, the weird kid nobody wants to be friends with, and sooner or later, you’ll be tired for going out with me. We should just save ourselves some pain and break up now.”

He watched her as she opened her mouth, then closed it again. Once, twice. Finally, she made one step towards him. And he made one step back.

And he tripped.

Next thing he knew, he had blood on his palm and a knife at his feet. The cut was deep and it hurt like a bitch. He groaned, making his way to the sink.

He heard her leave, and he choked back a sob that was not because of the physical pain.

She came back a minute later, though, a first-aid kit with her. Her eyes still leaking big, fat tears, she took his hand out from under the stream and began treating it.

Silently, he watched Betty disinfecting the cut and wrapping it in a bandage.

The moment that lasted maybe five minutes felt like forever, the complete silence making everything so much heavier. He could feel the tension weighing on his shoulders as he watched her tears crashing on his hand.

Now that his anger had deflated, he just felt numb.

When she was done, she stayed unmoving for a long time, just holding his injured hand.

Then she released it, watching it fall at Jughead’s side.

“Thanks,” he murmured lifelessly, drained.

She only nodded.

“You were wrong,” she whispered after a few seconds. He wanted to ask about what, but he didn’t dare talk again, scared to release anothe round of screams - hers or his. Instead, he just waited for her to continue.

“You were wrong,” she said again, in the same tone. “You’re not unwanted. I love you, Archie loves you, Veronica loves you and Kevin loves you. And we would never let anyone treat you like you’re not worth anything. Because you don’t, Juggie, you’re worth everything to me.”

She took his hand again, and this time he let her.

“And you’re not a consolation prize. You’re my boyfriend, and I love you. Actually, scratch that. I’m _in love_ with you. And I don’t want to break up with you. Do you want us to break up?”

He just slowly shook his head from right to left and back again, and he saw the relief flooding her eyes.

“And I won’t get tired of you. I won’t,” she insisted with more confidence. “I know we can work this out, as long as we stay together.”

She stepped closer to him, and he didn’t step back.

“And I’m not asking you to give up on something that you want. I just want to be sure you won’t do anything you’re not okay with because the Serpents ask you to.”

She put her free hand on his cheek, and he leaned into it.

“Please don’t push me away, Juggie,” she whispered before sealing her lips to his.

That made him come back to life, and suddenly his hands were in her hair and he was kissing her like there was no tomorrow and he was pushing her back against the wall. He was out of the eye of the storm, but this storm was a good one.

He kissed her neck feverishly, whispering breathy ‘I love you’s against her skin as she scratched his scalp, tugging on his hair.

She locked her legs around his waist and he carried her through the trailer, all the way to the old bed that was his. He didn't say that he was sorry, he just showed it in the way he kissed her as he made love to her, and she seemed to understand. After all, actions speaked louder than words, right?

Betty stayed over that night. They fell asleep together, and as he was listening to her slow heartbeat, Jughead prayed to God – or whatever there was out there – that they would be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, hope you enjoyed!


End file.
